1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a rubbish collection vehicle of the type utilizing a compaction unit which allows the entire rubbish collection container to be used to its maximum capacity. More particularly, the invention relates to a compaction unit which pushes the rubbish upwardly from the front of the rubbish collection container to the rear thereof at an oblique angle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
German Patent DE-PS 34 01 069 discloses a rubbish collection vehicle in which rubbish is fed into a rubbish hopper from a compacting area located beneath the hopper and is forced into the rubbish collection container of the rubbish collection vehicle in a horizontal direction by a rubbish compacting plate. Due to the position of the inlet hopper above the rubbish compacting plate, which operates in the horizontal direction of operation, rubbish can be transported forwardly into the lower part (approximately 1/3) of the rubbish collection container. As a consequence, rubbish compaction fails to occur in the upper part (approximately 2/3) of the rubbish collection container. No rubbish whatsoever can be loaded into the front, upper space of the rubbish collection container. In the rubbish collection vehicle taught in this patent, therefore, a large part of the total available volume of the rubbish collection container cannot be effectively utilized. To counter this drawback, an extremely large rubbish collection container would have to be provided for the rubbish collection vehicle. The required large rubbish collection container would not possess satisfactory space utilization characteristics and would require a larger rubbish collection vehicle.
German Patent DE-PS 34 20 058 discloses a rubbish collection vehicle which also has a rubbish compacting plate located in the vehicle's bottom third portion, which operates to advance or push the rubbish in a horizontal direction. With the aid of a thrust plate connected to the rubbish compacting plate, the rubbish can also be pushed further into the rubbish collection container. Experience has shown that satisfactory compaction of rubbish is not achieved with this rubbish collection vehicle. Consequently, the available capacity of the rubbish collection container cannot be fully utilized.